Nanotechnology General News

(Nanowerk News) BioFocus DPI, a leading provider of gene-to-candidate discovery services, and TET Systems Holding, a privately-held, German-based biotech company, announced today that they have entered into an agreement to apply TET System's inducible gene technology in high-throughput screening campaigns performed for BioFocus DPI customers.

BioFocus DPI will offer TET Technology as part of its drug discovery screening service. Through this technology, the activity of individual genes can be controlled quantitatively and reversibly in cellular assays. This approach is particularly powerful in cases where the target is not well tolerated in the cells, since the protein will not be expressed until required for screening.

“The TET Technology allows us to build on the proven compound screening service that we offer clients. This powerful approach will benefit discovery programs that are hindered by difficult to express targets. Using this technology, we will be able to perform more efficient, extensive compound screening on these problematic targets,” commented Dr. Kate Hilyard, VP Biological Sciences, BioFocus DPI.

“We are very pleased to sign this agreement with BioFocus DPI, one of the leading drug discovery service providers worldwide. TET Technology has been used successfully for many years by most of the major pharmaceutical companies. Through this new partnership with BioFocus DPI, a broader range of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will gain access to TET System’s gene expression technology,” stated Dr. Ernst Boehnlein, CEO of TET Systems Holding and IP Merchandisers.

About BioFocus DPI

BioFocus DPI aims to expand its partners’ drug pipelines by accelerating the gene-to-candidate discovery process. This is achieved through a comprehensive discovery platform, which includes target discovery in human primary cells, focused as well as diverse compound libraries, in vitro and cell-based screening, structural biology, medicinal chemistry, ADME/PK services, supported by unique chemogenomic and informatics tools, and compound library acquisition, storage and distribution services. As the service division of Galapagos, BioFocus DPI has over 250 employees in four countries worldwide.

About TET Systems Holding

TET Systems Holding is a privately held company located in Heidelberg, Germany. TET Systems Holding was founded by Prof. Dr. H. Bujard and colleagues based on their invention of the TET Technology, the most widely used method to control gene expression in higher organisms. TET Systems Holding owns a broad patent portfolio covering the technology organised in six patent families comprising 30 granted patents and 14 patent applications. TET Systems markets licences to the TET Technology through its subsidiary IP Merchandisers. To date, more than 140 organisations have licensed the TET Technology including academic institutions and research foundations. The largest group of partners are biotech and pharmaceutical companies, with 17 of the top 20 BIG Pharma (2006) being TET Technology licensees.